A last minute solution to Tuesday's teachers strike looks unlikely.
Thousands of teachers will commence a 12 hour strike from midnight.
The majority of schools across the north are not expected to open until midday on Tuesday.
Members of the NASUWT, INTO, UTU and NEU unions are involved in the strike action, which is due to begin at midnight.
While many teachers will hold protests outside schools, there will also be seven main rally points.
Members are expected to gather at City Hall in Belfast, Omagh Courthouse, the Guildhall in Derry, the Education Authority office at Ballymena (Ballee), Newry Town Hall, Rathgael House in Bangor and Coleraine Town Hall.
Any hopes of a last minute deal to call the strike off looks unlikely with the the Department of Education warning that "negotiations are currently framed within the growing and unprecedented financial pressures facing the education sector".
The department's comments came after the four teaching unions jointly called for a pay increase of 12 per cent last week.
They said they had "been left with no choice but to take strike action as a result of the failure of the education employers to offer any improvement on the miserly two year proposal made last February".
Ahead of the half-day strike, the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL NI) called for "an improved pay settlement".
Regional Officer Robert Wilson said while its members were not taking part in the industrial action, "we fully respect the other unions’ legitimate right to do so".
"While we are sorry that it has come to this, many members will have the utmost sympathy with the teachers choosing to strike and all want to see an end to this dispute as soon as possible," he said.
"This strike has not come out of the blue.
"It is the culmination of a dispute which began a year ago following the decision to offer a two-year pay offer to teachers which was well below the rate of inflation and which was unsurprisingly rejected by teaching unions.
"Those responsible for government in Northern Ireland must make it a priority to urgently agree an improved pay settlement.
"Paying teachers inadequately dissuades graduates from entering the profession.
"Northern Ireland once had a surplus of teachers but it is now becoming hugely challenging to recruit across a range of subject areas.
"The funding crisis is also contributing to this by increasing workload and forcing teachers to do more with less. The financial settlement for 2022/23 represents a significant real terms cut.
"To resolve this dispute there has to be both an improved, fully funded pay settlement and an education budget which allows school leaders to plan their finances with the confidence that they will be able to sustain the high level of education that children and young people need and deserve."
